Pokémon Thread XXIX: Sword, Shield, and Spoilers

[Lord Raziere]

Menu-based RPGs like mainline Pokemon have never really had complex controls, though. Move, select, cancel, pause, and nothing has precise timing requirements. That fits easily on a touch interface. I've emulated and beat MMBN2 on my phone (controller overlay on the screen); that's real-time and action-y, and uses more of the buttons than Pokémon does.

There are games that would have problems with a phone port without a significant redesign, but Pokémon is not one of them.

yeah, your right, I was kind of thinking more in general for that.

oh well. guess we'll just have to wait and see. though I wouldn't be surprised if the 0-9 keypad physical design comes back to phones just to handle the videogame controls.

[enderlord99]

This is your intermittent reminder that frogs, axolotls, catfish, and especially slugs are all various levels of slimy, and the ones I linked are 4x weak to Grass and live in muddy, rainy places.

Goomy also lives in muddy, rainy places... but it has Sap Sipper. Its slimy appearance is bait.

Who agrees with this? I'm pretty sure Fel does, since he backed me up last time I mentioned it, but anyone else?

[deuterio12]

If they need to take a break from Pokémon, they need to take a break from Pokémon. I don't have a problem with that. Rest up, do something else, take their time. Fine. I'm preternaturally patient; I can wait.

Well, yes, maybe you can wait, but lots of people won't. One of the reasons pokémon has remained top of the genre is precisely being able to output games on a regular basis, since most of the public does have a quite short attention span.

But half-arsing the first release of a new generation mainline game because they apparently don't REALLY want to do Pokémon, but they also still want the money they hope they can make by half-arsing it?

That's a way of looking at things, but the way I see it it's less "half-arsing it" and more "let's test some new stuff that we haven't done before". Open areas, dynamax, actual cooperative multiplayer against raid bosses, etc. That they're willing to work on such stuff is a sign to me the team may not be all of Game Freak but is still motivated, not just painting by the numbers for a quick cash grab.

Plus the old adage of "don't put all your eggs in the same basket".

[tonberrian]

And now we get Gigantamaxing, which appears to change pokemon's appearance and give them a new move. This right here, if it's available to all the pokemon in the Galar dex? That would definitely explain Game Freak's decision to not update every mon.

[Requizen]

And now we get Gigantamaxing, which appears to change pokemon's appearance and give them a new move. This right here, if it's available to all the pokemon in the Galar dex? That would definitely explain Game Freak's decision to not update every mon.

From what I understand, all Mons get Dynamaxing, and some get Gigantamaxing, which is even bigger. So it's kind of like Gigantamaxing is the old Mega evolution, where Dynamaxing is a way to give Mega Evolution power to all Mon without designing a Mega for each one. Or something like that.

[Kantaki]

I wonder how Gigantamaxing will work, because it sounds like not every member of a species that can use it can use it. Meaning Corviknight can gigantamax, but not every Corviknight.
So I guess is the Mons of specific NPCs, some event ones, maybe some you get during the story can use it but not ones caught in the wild. Maybe Raid-caught ones?

Also, it seems there's a tournament before facing the league?
And different gyms between the games.
Sounds interesting.
I thought about getting both games anyway, but this seems like a reason.
Even if Shy Guy and Maylene2.0 mightn't be the best examples to show for that.

[cobaltstarfire]

I wonder how Gigantamaxing will work, because it sounds like not every member of a species that can use it can use it. Meaning Corviknight can gigantamax, but not every Corviknight.
So I guess is the Mons of specific NPCs, some event ones, maybe some you get during the story can use it but not ones caught in the wild. Maybe Raid-caught ones?

Also, it seems there's a tournament before facing the league?
And different gyms between the games.
Sounds interesting.
I thought about getting both games anyway, but this seems like a reason.
Even if Shy Guy and Maylene2.0 mightn't be the best examples to show for that.

You've got the right idea for how to get Gigantamax monsters.

You can catch Gigantamax Pokémon for your team by participating in Max Raid Battles, but it seems they’re very rare—finding one won’t be easy!

Some of the new monsters shown in today's trailer didn't quite do it for me, and I find the gigantamax thing kind of weird, I wonder if some Mega Evolutions will reappear as Gigantamax monsters.

[Kantaki]

You've got the right idea for how to get Gigantamax monsters.




Some of the new monsters shown in today's trailer didn't quite do it for me, and I find the gigantamax thing kind of weird, I wonder if some Mega Evolutions will reappear as Gigantamax monsters.

Let's hope thats "rare mon" rare and not "shiny" rare.
Oh well, I wanted to try playing without casting Giant Growth anyway...

[Bartmanhomer]

How powerful Is Mewtwo (Including its two Mega Forms) really is actually?

[enderlord99]

How powerful Is Mewtwo (Including its two Mega Forms) really is actually?

Very powerful.

[Mando Knight]

Some of the new monsters shown in today's trailer didn't quite do it for me, and I find the gigantamax thing kind of weird, I wonder if some Mega Evolutions will reappear as Gigantamax monsters.

They probably will unless they're giving Charizard a "Totally Unrelated Super-Mode #3" design instead. Other likely old-'mon candidates for Gigantamax are Hydreigon and Tyranitar, since they're basically a Ghidorah vs Godzilla version-exclusive matchup.

[deuterio12]

And now we get Gigantamaxing, which appears to change pokemon's appearance and give them a new move. This right here, if it's available to all the pokemon in the Galar dex? That would definitely explain Game Freak's decision to not update every mon.

"This isn't even my final form!"

Also really liking the whole "gym battles as big shows" angle.

How powerful Is Mewtwo (Including its two Mega Forms) really is actually?

+1 to Very Powerful.

[Fable Wright]

How powerful Is Mewtwo (Including its two Mega Forms) really is actually?

When you see an opposing Mewtwo in Team Preview:

It is going to be able to 1-2 shot almost anything on your team.
You don't know if it's going to attack Specially or Physically.
It's as fast as Mega Gengar, without the fragility.
Your designated wall may just instantly lose to Mewtwo depending on its loadout; there's nothing that perfectly defends against both X and Y.

It's not the king of Ubers, but it's a very solid wallbreaker. Or sweeper. Or utility attacker. Or Psychic Terrain user. Basically, it's going to punch holes, and you're going to have to eat that loss and work around it.

[OracleofWuffing]

"You call Mega Evolving, Gigantimaxing?"
"Yes, it's a regional dialect."
"Uh-huh, what region?"
"Upstate Galar."

[Bartmanhomer]

"This isn't even my final form!"

Also really liking the whole "gym battles as big shows" angle.



+1 to Very Powerful.

When you see an opposing Mewtwo in Team Preview:

It is going to be able to 1-2 shot almost anything on your team.
You don't know if it's going to attack Specially or Physically.
It's as fast as Mega Gengar, without the fragility.
Your designated wall may just instantly lose to Mewtwo depending on its loadout; there's nothing that perfectly defends against both X and Y.

It's not the king of Ubers, but it's a very solid wallbreaker. Or sweeper. Or utility attacker. Or Psychic Terrain user. Basically, it's going to punch holes, and you're going to have to eat that loss and work around it.

Thank you both.

[cobaltstarfire]

They probably will unless they're giving Charizard a "Totally Unrelated Super-Mode #3" design instead. Other likely old-'mon candidates for Gigantamax are Hydreigon and Tyranitar, since they're basically a Ghidorah vs Godzilla version-exclusive matchup.

That would be interesting, kind of makes me wonder if that guy going on about the Godzilla movie at the press conference wasn't being as cheeky as we thought. It would be nice to just collapse mega evolution into Gigantamax and keep adding new monsters that can do it rather than them going out of their way to slightly remake a gimmick just for the sake of having a "new" one, while sweeping away the old megas.

I like Charizard and all, but I'm starting to get rather tired of them and their bajillions of forms.

[deuterio12]

That would be interesting, kind of makes me wonder if that guy going on about the Godzilla movie at the press conference wasn't being as cheeky as we thought. It would be nice to just collapse mega evolution into Gigantamax and keep adding new monsters that can do it rather than them going out of their way to slightly remake a gimmick just for the sake of having a "new" one, while sweeping away the old megas.

I like Charizard and all, but I'm starting to get rather tired of them and their bajillions of forms.

Consider yourself lucky they didn't do a summer swimsuit/christmas/halloween/valentine's charizard for the games yet.

[cobaltstarfire]

Consider yourself lucky they didn't do a summer swimsuit/christmas/halloween/valentine's charizard for the games yet.

Don't forget Wedding Charizard, Highschool Charizard, and Anti-Charizard

[deuterio12]

Don't forget Wedding Charizard, Highschool Charizard, and Anti-Charizard

Ah yes, also Fallen Charizard, Brave Charizard, Legendary Charizard and Mythic Charizard.

Next game you'll start the game by picking one of three charizard options from professor Charizard, then fight the eight gym leaders specialized in charizard, meeting more common trainers like Charizard catcher, Charizard maniac and Charizard Ace, meeting wild charizard in grass, fishing charizard from the water, facing the villanous Team Charizard, until facing the Elite Charizard. The pokedex will of course be composed of only charizards.

[OracleofWuffing]

Okay, but can I get a Charizard hat for my Pikachu Charizard?

[Kantaki]

You guys make that sound like a bad idea.
I like it though*.
And it's not as if it would be anything new.
:cough:PikHATchu:cough:

*I mean, as long as they include Gardevoir and Lopunny too...

[Karnitis]

I will freely admit I am a curmudgeon when it comes to trends, so I have been waiting for a decade for people to get over Charizard (yes I chose Bulbasaur what of it?).

I am mixed on the new mons. The dragon - whatever it is supposed to be - looks like a new Druddigon, which I don't mind. Won't be spammed most likely, but it's a fun design.

The coal pokemon is fun enough. I don't need everything to be top-tier, and I'm probably going to like this better than Gigalith.

I am hugely disappointed in the fairy. I loved how stupid Slurpuff looked, and seeing how this is also a mono-Fairy with the same ability, it seems too copypaste. Yes, yes, at this point there are a ton of copypaste fish & plant pokemon, but still.

[enderlord99]

This is your intermittent reminder that frogs, axolotls, catfish, and especially slugs are all various levels of slimy, and the ones I linked are 4x weak to Grass and live in muddy, rainy places.

Goomy also lives in muddy, rainy places... but it has Sap Sipper. Its slimy appearance is bait.

Does anyone have further comments on this?

[Lord Raziere]

Does anyone have further comments on this?

Seems plausible.

do you have any ideas on how it might make the goomy line related to another pokemon? because I'm building a pokemon genealogy to try and figure which pokemon came from which for fun, with pictures and everything.

[enderlord99]

Seems plausible.

do you have any ideas on how it might make the goomy line related to another pokemon? because I'm building a pokemon genealogy to try and figure which pokemon came from which for fun, with pictures and everything.

Common ancestor with the Dratini line. Dratini line has genetically evolved much more slowly (due to isolation) and closely resembles their common ancestor. Goomy line has evolved much more in the same time, but still quite slowly; think "ten million years" since their latest common ancestor, rather than just "million years."

Dratini and Dragonair also have the "seems like Water typse, but are actually pure Dragon" thing going on, though it's not nearly as obviously helpful in their case.

[Mando Knight]

Consider yourself lucky they didn't do a summer swimsuit/christmas/halloween/valentine's charizard for the games yet.

Don't forget Wedding Charizard, Highschool Charizard, and Anti-Charizard

Ah yes, also Fallen Charizard, Brave Charizard, Legendary Charizard and Mythic Charizard.

Next game you'll start the game by picking one of three charizard options from professor Charizard, then fight the eight gym leaders specialized in charizard, meeting more common trainers like Charizard catcher, Charizard maniac and Charizard Ace, meeting wild charizard in grass, fishing charizard from the water, facing the villanous Team Charizard, until facing the Elite Charizard. The pokedex will of course be composed of only charizards.

That's what Pokémon Masters is for. Red is already confirmed for maining 'Zard in Masters (with Mega-X in some of the promotional art), so between him and Leon be prepared for Charizard alt-spam once they start the inevitable seasonal events rolling. (And you'd better believe Cynthia and Misty will get plenty of alts, too--maybe even their own Charizards?)

[Lord Raziere]

Common ancestor with the Dratini line. Dratini line has genetically evolved much more slowly (due to isolation) and closely resembles their common ancestor. Goomy line has evolved much more in the same time, but still quite slowly; think "ten million years" since their latest common ancestor, rather than just "million years."

Dratini and Dragonair also have the "seems like Water typse, but are actually pure Dragon" thing going on, though it's not nearly as obviously helpful in their case.

Ah, so Goomy line is also descended from Milotic. thanks.

[tgva8889]

Pokemon Masters is how they make Pokemon fanservice, so you better believe we're going to get some kind of Santa Red with Santa Pikachu or something like that.

I'm not really sure what's happening with Pokemon Masters, but I'll probably try it some. I can actually play smart phone games, so who knows. Managing how much time I spend on all these games is probably gonna become a problem sooner or later, though.

[Requizen]

Pokemon Masters is how they make Pokemon fanservice, so you better believe we're going to get some kind of Santa Red with Santa Pikachu or something like that.

I'm not really sure what's happening with Pokemon Masters, but I'll probably try it some. I can actually play smart phone games, so who knows. Managing how much time I spend on all these games is probably gonna become a problem sooner or later, though.

Depends on how heavy it is on Gatcha, being a phone game and all. I want to believe that it'll just be a fun F2P battler game, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Razade]

Depends on how heavy it is on Gatcha, being a phone game and all. I want to believe that it'll just be a fun F2P battler game, but I'm not holding my breath.

They haven't mentioned any particular costs, which you'd imagine they would. I'm sure they'll let you buy in game currency but for how much...who knows. We don't even have a solid release date yet. I'm hoping to enjoy it more than I enjoyed Fate Grand/Order personally. I'm not opposed to having games on my phone, but I'd like them to be ones I find fun, not a slough.